You looked down at the plate of food in front of you with a scowl. Using the fork on your hand you mashed the meal into a blob until it could be described as unappetizing. The old man had taken you to eat at the inn you would be staying at, he said you needed to "re-energize". You scoffed thinking back on his words. To say you were devastated would not even be closed to the emotion you were feeling right now.

After everything...Ace-

And the old man hadn't even told you what had led to- to such failure. Everything was just a mystery. An unhappy mystery.

Does he even know what happened? You wondered.

You sighed to yourself as you turned your attention back to your food, achieving to attain an even more foul mood as you looked at the state of your food. It looked disgusting. What the fuck had you done to it?

-"You have to eat to gain back your energy." The old man spoke up, staring at you as he laid back on his chair with crossed hands. He looked authoritative for his age, even now, after everything you had been through he looked wise. You exhaled dejectedly, opting to stare at the broken fragments of the jewel placed on the table rather than to answer him.

You had made quick talk with each other, filling in the time you had spent apart. Albeit it was composed of short sentences with grunts as a response, you felt like the elephant in the room was not being discussed. You wouldn't have it:

-"Why would I need to energize if I have nothing to use it for? My staff, remember? I'm powerless." You finally responded to his statement, opening up the topic you both had been avoiding. He stared back at you, waiting a little bit before speaking up.

-"We will figure it out." You gritted your teeth, but stopped, not wanting to take your anger out on the old man. He was only helping you out.

Helping me out..When did this become my entire life? When did I turn so lonely, having this secret, working by myself?

-"And how will we do that? No, how will I do that? There is nothing anymore, I'm useless." You laughed, remembering a memory, one of many you were trying to keep at bay. Trying not to think about. You had called me weak when we first talked about me joining your crew...What would you say now, Ace?

Your smile quickly washed off, and turned into a glare. You didn't know where you were glaring at. You just felt angry, angry at the world, angry at yourself for being so weak and angry at Ace for leaving you here. By yourself.

You shoved the fork down harshly on the table and stood up. The old man eyed you as you moved to collect the fragments of your jewel. "I will go to my room" you simply said as you turned to walk, you noted the way his eyes followed the gem you were carrying in your hands. He looked uneasy, as if he didn't want you to have it.

You narrowed your eyes and took a sharp turn towards your room but stopped short. For a moment your anger washed out, to bare your true feelings: sadness and fear.

Your eyes softened up as you stopped and turned towards the old man who was still staring at you from his chair in a laid back posture.

-"Is- is there really nothing I can do?" you asked, your voice sounding weaker than you had intended it to. The old man flinched back, and stood up straight. His eyes no longer gazing back at yours, suddenly finding the table much more interesting than the conversation.

-"I don't know." he answered, sounding unsure of his own words. Feeling unsatisfied with his answer, you turned around to walk towards your room, letting anger consume you once again.

________________________________________________________________________

You dropped the jewel's pieces on the table, being careful not to harm them even in your disgruntled state. You sighed as you dropped the cloak carelessly onto the chair and plopped down on the bed.

You closed your eyes but opened them back up as the one person you didn't want to remember kept popping up in your head. Ace.

You cursed, standing up straight in the process.

Ace...He was such a fool. Only interested in eating, sleeping, his stupid cocky attitude and those special to him. He was so childish doing things when he wanted to, even if it would be stupid to do so. Running around causing trouble but still managing to seem like such an adult. A handsome adult.

You frowned remembering the last moments you had spent together, squeezing the bedsheets tightly in your hand. You had heard his screams. You grimaced, remembering the way you had departed, the way he had told you not to go- the way he had told you to hold on. You hadn't been able to do any of that. In the end, you caused him pain; Whether as a friend or an acquaintance, your death had traumatized him.

Would any of this be the same if I had been strong enough? Such questions had constantly been swirling around in your mind from the moment you had woken up here. You thought back on all the times you had crushed on him, and had your heart skip a beat at the sight of him. Had such stupid thoughts lead to your failure? Had your stupid puppy love gotten in the way of your mission? Had you caused him suffering for your own selfish reasons?

Before you could continue to dwell in your negative emotions, the sound of something dropping on the floor interrupted your thought process. You looked on the ground, noticing that the cloak you had lazily placed on the chair had fallen down. Normally you would let it be but the broken pieces of the gem made you feel responsible for the only thing you hadn't ruined yet.

You stood up grudgingly to pick up the cloak when something caught your eye. You held your breath as you came face to face with a piece of paper that was sewn inside the cloak. You remembered when you had first seen it; The rules of the cycle and your staff's abilities could be seen clearly, the information just the same as the first time you had read it on the first night you had spent in this world.

However, something was different. The writings on the paper were much more clear. The parts that couldn't be read before were now visible.

Your eyes widened when you put the pieces together. You were in a much earlier time than when you had first initially gotten here. The cloak, unlike the staff, was made of normal materials, hence it had changed with the timeline. Making the paper a lot newer and easier to read.

You quickly scanned over the paper, skipping over the parts explaining the staff's power until your eyes landed on a sentence that made you freeze. You remembered this sentence. The first time you had seen it, the other half of it had been unreadable.

Make sure no harm comes to the jewel as if it were to break, it would lose its power. Which can only be retained by-

The rest of the sentence had been damaged with time, you narrowed your eyes to read its content.

Make sure no harm comes to the jewel as if it were to break, it would lose its power. Which can only be retained by drinking a drop of the essence stored inside the jewel. --

The rest of the sentence couldn' be read. ________________________________________________________________________

You slammed your door close seething with anger, marching towards the place you had last seen the old man. As you moved amongst the people who were unfortunate enough to cross your path at this moment, you had easily collected yourself an audience.

You found the old man at the same place you had left him, in the dining place of the inn's restaurant. The commotion had made it easy for him to locate you.

-"You told me that the staff couldn' be used again!" You slammed your hands on the table.

-"What do you mean?" he asked you, although he looked as if he already knew what you were talking about.

-"The essence. I just have to drink it." he flinched back at your words, narrowing his eyes as he opened his mouth to disagree. "You are hiding things from me. I know it. I know I heard your voice at Bohora Island and I know that you know more than you let on. You were there! Don't FUCKING hide things from me!" you cut him off, speaking way too loud, but being unable to control yourself.

-"You can't drink that. It will hurt you. The essence goes against time-" he tried to calmly explain but you turned around, not wanting to hear his words even though they made sense.

This was your only way of surviving in this world. You wouldn't be able to survive without powers and if the essence were to kill you it wouldn't matter because without it you were already dead. "The essence will reopen all your old wounds from the other cycles- they won't heal!" he spoke up again, trying to talk some sense into you.

The pirates staying in the inn who had sensed the nature of your conversation had risen up from their seats. Smelling the talk of power- a devil fruit. All were ready to pounce.

-"Hey young lady. I heard you had a fight with your dad- Want me to comfort you?" a sleazy pirate reached towards you. Hoping to get more information about the power you were talking about through the "weak" link. You scoffed:

-"Fuck off." You punched him.

Jumping over the thug's body which lay on the ground, you left the old man to deal with the weaklings and went to your room before he could convince you otherwise. ________________________________________________________________________

You eyed the jewel in your hands. Its essence glistened inside as if it was provoking you. Your hands had turned white from the tight grip you were forcing on the tiny fragments. One drop was enough. That was what the paper on the cloak had said.

"I'll be waiting" Ace had laughed and said that when you had told him you wanted to join his crew. Whitebeard, huh.. Ace was waiting for you.

Ace... This time I won't fall for you. That's a promise.

You placed the jewel to your lips and drank. One tiny little sip. ________________________________________________________________________

I wrote this and just as I finished I learned about some bad news I was dreading. Life goes on though so I'm being positive. Hopefully nothing bad will happen for the next  2-3 weeks. 

Did you enjoy this chapter? I'm sorry for lengthening this part too much but don' worry we will get to much more exciting parts starting the next chapter!

How are you guys by the way? Hope you are doing well. AND 

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED SEE YOU IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!